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The contributions of gender equality to trade and the moderating impact of institutional quality on the trade-gender link have been understudied in contemporary literature. Therefore, this paper aims to use the augmented gravity model to investigate the impacts of gender equality and institutional quality on trade, and the moderating impact of institutional quality on the trade-gender link.

The panel data is comprised of bilateral trade flows of Vietnam and 40 major trading partners in the 2002–2021 period. Estimation methods include combined fixed effect, random effect, system generalized method of moments two-step (SGMM-II) and Poisson-pseudo maximum likelihood (PPML) which allow the treatment of heterogeneity, endogeneity and heteroskedasticity in the research models.

The exporting country’s gender equality has an inconclusive impact on trade in SGMM-II and PPML estimations. However, female labor force participation in the exporting country increases trade. Importing country’s gender equality and female labor force participation increase trade. The direct impact of institutional quality on trade is inconclusive, which is dependent on estimation methods. Most noticeably, the institutional quality of exporting and importing countries facilitates the hampering effects of gender equality and female labor force participation on trade.

Future research should apply the framework of this paper to sectoral trade, which allows more sector-specific policy implications to be delivered. Moreover, gender development, gender inequality and institutional quality should be included in the SGMM estimations as endogenous variables for robustness checking purposes in future research.

The paper has justified the integration of gender-specific issues in trade policies, which aligns trade with sustainable development agenda. The explored moderating impact of institutional quality of the exporting country has implied the trade-off relationship between gender equality and export growth in the effort to improve institutional quality. Reversely, in the case of importing countries with higher institutional quality, improved gender equality may mitigate the trade deficit by hampering import growth.

Investigating the impact of gender equality on trade is the prominent contribution of this paper. Gender equality is considered by three component indicators which include gender development, gender inequality and female labor force participation. New measurement approach to the institutional quality level is also introduced. Furthermore, the explored moderating impacts of institutional quality on the trade-gender link are novel in the literature on sustainable development.

Through the “Going Digital Initiative,” the Ghanaian government has introduced policies that aim at improving the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure of the country. These ICT policies have benefited numerous sectors of the Ghanaian economy. In logistics management, ICT has impacted drone medical delivery in the healthcare and maritime sectors. However, the importance of ICT is not realized in the motorcycle goods transport (MGT) industry, regardless of its popularity and high economic dependency. Second, all research on motorcycles is focused on diverse social concerns, and no study has attempted to analyze ICT implementation for MGT operations. This is a significant gap in logistics management. Hence, the study aimed to investigate the impact of ICT on Ghana's MGT industry empirically.

The study adopts a two-phase data collection approach to collect the data. The authors use partial least square structural equation modeling to analyze the study's measurement and structural assessment model.

ICT positively impacts MGT and the drivers considered. The drivers positively influence MGT. The study further analyzes novel results on the relationships between the drivers and their mediating roles in enhancing MGT performance.

The study's originality is the extension of ICT adoption and usage in MGT. The lack of literature on the importance of ICT for MGT services makes this study the primary source of literature, and the relationships investigated are unique as the research area is unexplored.

The study aims to assess military procurement strategy in NATO countries labelled as emerging markets (Czechia, Slovakia and Lithuania) and capitalist Norway, which vary in national culture as indicated by the Hofstede Culture Compass.

This comparative case study analyses the procurement of a simple, mass-produced, off-the-shelf military product (FN Herstal MINIMI gun) in four small but very economically free countries from 2008 to 2023. The study answers the research question of how the unit price of MINIMI guns varies across post-communist and historical NATO countries distinguished by the variables operationalising national culture.

The general disability of the government to control corruption deviates the strategy of military procurement in post-communist defence institutions from an effective strategy of liberal capitalism, minimising the unit price and risks (Norway), to an odd strategy maximising the unit price and risks by preferring middlemen as agent of hidden agenda (Czechia).

Some defence institutions in post-communist countries may be burdened by legislature capture, and detailed research is needed to determine this.

The authors argue that national culture may contribute to significant goal displacement in the procurement strategy adopted by the government in an economically liberal state.

Without perfecting the control of corruption in post-communist defence institutions, the NATO burden-sharing debate on 2% of GDP will remain controversial.

With variables characterising national culture and the government’s ability to control corruption, the study elucidates a slow pace of convergence of post-communist countries to NATÓs values and procedures.

Women’s empowerment remains a key development challenge in Kenya. The purpose of this study is to attempt to understand the status of women’s empowerment and the key contributors to their disempowerment in Kenya’s aquaculture sector.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 534 male and female fish farmers from 300 households drawn from six counties in Kenya (Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii, Kiambu, Meru and Nyeri). The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) was adapted to Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Fisheries and Aquaculture Index (A-WEFI) to suit the aquaculture and fisheries sub-sector. The adapted A-WEFI was then used to estimate and the status of women’s and men’s using five domains of empowerment (5DE) and a gender parity index (GPI). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Cramer’s V and sensitivity analysis as test statistics.

About 86% of the men and 80% of the women were classified as empowered. The mean score of the 5DE was 0.93 and 0.95 for women and men, respectively. In addition, 82% of the households achieved gender parity, suggesting that for such households, empowerment of men was no greater than that of women. Overall, the results suggest no major differences between the empowerment of women and men. Findings suggest areas of improvement in empowerment: when observed separately, women report lack of agency in production, resource, time-use and allocation and leadership.

This paper adapts the A-WEAI to the fisheries and aquaculture context, in bid to bridge the gap in standard women’s empowerment measurement methods in this area. Also, there are limited empirical studies on the multifaceted empowerment of women in aquaculture in Kenya. The findings are meant to serve as a point of reference for policymakers, as they develop gender-responsive intervention programmes, and in implementing gender mainstreaming in Kenya.

Investigating the drivers that contribute to the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is crucial for ensuring the overall growth and sustainability of a country. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of gender diversity on the Board of Directors of innovative SMEs to understand whether the presence of women on boards can improve the performance of such organizations devoted to introducing technological advancements in the product market.

The study adopts a quantitative approach, using a sample of 2,264 Italian innovative SMEs. These companies were selected from non-financial sectors and collected from Analisi informatizzata delle Aziende Italiane (AIDA), a database provided by Bureau van Dijk. An unbalanced panel data involving a period from 2016 to 2021 was used with a total of 12,173 observations.

Our findings suggest that female representation has a negative effect on a company's financial performance. Moreover, the moderation effect of sector growth opportunities confirms this negative influence since in sectors characterized by high growth opportunities, the presence of women on boards was found to have a negative outcome.

The main contribution of the work lies in offering a comprehensive and thorough examination of the business category of innovative SMEs. Specifically, it extends previous research through a focus on board gender diversity of innovative SMEs by examining the impact of the presence of women in their boardrooms on firm performance outcomes. Furthermore, it provides an analysis of this effect, considering both high-growth and low-growth sectors.

Develop a comprehensive framework for assessing the knowledge organization systems (KOSs), including the taxonomy of Wikipedia and the ontologies of Wikidata, with a specific focus on enhancing management and retrieval with a gender nonbinary perspective.

This study employs heuristic and inspection methods to assess Wikipedia’s KOS, ensuring compliance with international standards. It evaluates the efficiency of retrieving non-masculine gender-related articles using the Catalan Wikipedian category scheme, identifying limitations. Additionally, a novel assessment of Wikidata ontologies examines their structure and coverage of gender-related properties, comparing them to Wikipedia’s taxonomy for advantages and enhancements.

This study evaluates Wikipedia’s taxonomy and Wikidata’s ontologies, establishing evaluation criteria for gender-based categorization and exploring their structural effectiveness. The evaluation process suggests that Wikidata ontologies may offer a viable solution to address Wikipedia’s categorization challenges.

The assessment of Wikipedia categories (taxonomy) based on KOS standards leads to the conclusion that there is ample room for improvement, not only in matters concerning gender identity but also in the overall KOS to enhance search and retrieval for users. These findings bear relevance for the design of tools to support information retrieval on knowledge-rich websites, as they assist users in exploring topics and concepts.

The aim of this chapter is to draw attention to the changes that have taken place in Czechia in the last 20 years in the field of foreign trade, focussing on the key milestones of 2002, 2012 and 2022. The chapter also explains the important link between the performance of foreign trade and economic growth; this link has its support in theory, and above all in empiricism. The importance of foreign trade for economic growth is key, especially from the point of view of changes in the territorial and commodity structure, which saw several important changes in the observed period 2002–2022, so we can relevantly explain the effects on the economic growth of Czechia. However, the chapter finds a connection with yet another economic category, which is competitiveness. The method of measuring and subsequent ranking of competitiveness is also of utmost importance. If the economy is to be competitive, it must have its own strategy, and this directly concerns the key instruments of pro-export policy.